Chapter Seven: In which we record my...third favorite part of the film, Jim experiences some disturbing medical complications, Uhura is baffled, Karina is concerned, and Pike is both of those, to say the least.
Okay... here's where I passive-aggressively hint at things. Or, you know what, I'll just outright ask for them. Guys...are you actually enjoying this? Because I've gotten next to no reviews on the last two chapters. Thank you booksfoodmusic-minion for your lone review! But for the rest of you all...I'd really appreciate if you let me know what you think on this chapter! It's a nice, long one for your benefit. Thanks!
I only own Camille and Karina. Have fun with this one!
Sulu turned back to Pike. "Engines at maximum warp, Captain."
"Russian whiz kid, what's your name? Chenko? Cherpov?"
Karina's head snapped up. Okay. This was it.
Swallowing his nervousness, Pavel turned around as well. "Ensign Chekov, Pavel Andreievich, sir."
"Fine, Chekov, Pavel Andreievich. Begin shipwide mission broadcast."
Karina sucked in a deep breath. So that was what Pike was having him do. This was high stakes. That wasn't just Pike, or even just the bridge. This was the entire ship! She forced herself to hide her apprehension. She needed to be strong in this instant, show Pavel her confidence in case he looked up here.
And, sure enough, his eyes flitted briefly her direction before he said, "Yes, sir. Happy to." With more confidence than she'd ever seen coming from him, he turned back to the helm and entered the sequence to bring up the shipwide broadcast.
"Ensign authorization code nine-five-wictor-wictor two."
"Authorization not recognized."
Karina attempted to conceal her panic. Crap, crap, crap! The accent was about to seal their doom. She clapped both hands to her face and pulled them downward, sure that the end was nigh. Why had she ever found that endearing? Because it's him, Karina! Now get your crap together!
Pavel's groan of "ayyyyy…" was audible even from this distance. Karina was no longer attempting to conceal anything as she scooted her chair as far to the edge of the platform as it would go, waiting on pins and needles for his next move.
"Ensign authorization code nine-five…victor-victor-two," he tried again, louder and clearer this time, pronouncing the "v's" with great effort.
"Access granted."
"May I hef your attention, please? At 2200 hours, telemetry detected an anomaly in ze neutral zone. What appeared to be a…lightning storm in space. Soon after, Starfleet received a distress signal from ze Wulcan high command, zat zeir planet was experiencing seismic actiwity. Our mission is to assess ze condition of Wulcan and assist in ewacuations if necessary. We should be arriving at Wulcan within sree minutes. Sank you for your time."
Karina edged her chair back toward its original position, realizing that through all of that while she was telling herself she had to be the calm and collected one, she'd been freaking out and Pavel hadn't once buckled under the pressure. And, obviously, from the looks at least five different people were giving her, including Spock, she had made a bit of a dork of herself. One of the women, currently in the senior weapons position, gave her a knowing look, and Karina bit back irritation. Great. More rumors to fight there.
She wanted to let herself be proud. She really did. But she couldn't quite yet. Not until…
Pavel turned to look at Captain Pike, and Pike turned back to her. Looking back and forth between the pair of them, he simply nodded and gave a bit of a half-smile, then turned back to the viewing screen.
A huge grin erupted on Karina's face, and she looked at Pavel, grinning. Every ounce of faux-confidence he'd assumed was now released from his body as he breathed a huge sigh of relief, his ecstasy evident. She flashed him the thumbs-up, a gesture she'd become fond of in recent months. He nodded, and his face suddenly grew serious. He silently mouthed the words, "Thank you," in her direction.
Karina felt a flash of something warm going through her heart. Everything they'd been through up until this point, from the pounding English into his head in a week faster than most people took it in in a month to being kidnapped by a pair of diabolical Russian arms dealers – never mind that one of them had been his father – was totally worth it, if for nothing other than that.
She was proud of herself, of course. But as he turned back to the helm and she turned back to her communications screen, she realized that paled in comparison to just how proud she was of him.
Out of curiosity, she chanced a glance Spock's way. He was unreadable, as always. But she thought she saw just the barest trace of approval in his eyes. And she had to admit, that made it pretty much worth everything, too.
Down at the helm, Chekov glanced over at Sulu, who, out of the corner of his mouth muttered, "Never doubted it for a second."
Chekov, for his part, was thinking of just how completely worth it that grin Karina had given him had made this whole thing. Like she'd recommended, he relaxed slightly in the chair while still maintaining the professional posture.
They were in, permanently.
Camille, now clad in a red shirt and black pants, had been sitting watching the broadcast, her back to Jim's prostrate form, when suddenly he sat up and exclaimed in a frenzied state, "Lightning storm!"
She shrieked and jumped out of her skin. Rising, she went around to face him. "Geez, Jim, scare the hell out of – " She fell off short, staring down at his hands. "Um, Bones…"
Bones, wearing the assigned blue shirt for medical and science officers, came over, for once seemingly not noticing Camille's freaked out tone. "Jim, you're awake. How do you feel?" Suddenly, his gaze followed Cam's, and his eyes widened in disbelief and horror. "Good Lord, man!"
Jim looked at both of them, both enraptured with his hands. "What?" Suddenly, he saw their object of fascination and let out a girly little noise that was somewhere between a shriek and a squeal and not at all becoming of a man his stature. "What the hell's this?"
"A reaction to the vaccine, dammit!" Bones cried, racing toward the other medical officers, leaving Camille and Jim there staring in macabre enrapturement at Jim's puffy, swollen hands.
"Good Lord, those things have gotta be the size of a dinner plate!" Camille exclaimed.
Bones' voice came from somewhere off to the left. "Nurse Chapel, I need 50 cc's of cortisol!"
"Yes, sir!" Christine, the nurse Camille had met earlier, replied.
Meanwhile, Jim hobbled over to the viewing screen across from his sickbed and pressed the replay button.
"Jim, what are you…?" Camille asked, but he shushed her with a wave of his hand.
As Bones scanned Jim, he replayed the broadcast Chekov had made not forty seconds earlier, rewinding it to the part that had apparently so grabbed his curiosity. Camille hadn't seen him this determined since he'd tried to hook up with one of those Andorian cadets – which she couldn't see the appeal of in the least.
"…appeared to be a…lightning storm in space."
Jim stood bolt upright, nearly knocking Camille, who had been leaning over him to see the screen, off of her feet and interrupting Bones' scan.
"Hey!" Bones growled, but Jim silenced him rather quickly by grabbing his face in between his two large, swollen, meaty hands.
"We gotta stop the ship!"
Jim rocketed through the corridors, past unsuspecting and the majority of the time completely baffled crew members, with Bones and Camille racing after him. The men, as usual, were both displaying their one-track mind, and Camille, as usual, was trying to decide whose point concerned her more.
"Jim!" Bones called, panic rising in his tone and reminding her that, under the circumstances, his was the more legitimate worry. "I'm not kidding, we need to keep your heart rate down!"
Jim skidded to a stop by a console and tapped in a few commands. "Computer, locate crew member Uhura!"
Bones, in the midst of his panicked rustling about in the med bag, managed to slip a look at Camille, who understood exactly what he was saying and moved to stand on the other side of Jim. Bones went back to his frantic scrabbling. "You know, I haven't seen a reaction this severe since med school!" he said, scanning Jim once more.
"We're flying into a trap!" Jim exclaimed, the frenzied look in his eyes remaining. He darted off, and Camille grabbed for him, but her reflexes weren't fast enough and he slipped out from underneath her fingers – and Bones' anti-reaction serum.
Bones gave her a mild exasperated look before taking off after him. "Dammit, Jim, stand still!"
Jim had finally pulled to a stop, and Camille took the opportunity to seize hold of his arms, pinning him in place while Bones shot the serum into his neck.
"Ah!" Jim cried. "Stop it!"
It was only then that Camille saw where they were. They had stumbled into the Communications sector of the ship. What the heck was Jim looking for Uhura for? She looked at Bones with a raised brow, and Bones merely shrugged before they took off after Jim, who was now cavorting through the ranks, leaping over unsuspecting Communications officers and causing general chaos in his wake. Bones was too intent on the task of making sure Jim didn't fall over dead to pay any attention to those staring at them as they raced past after him, and though Camille didn't really care, she decided one of them had probably better apologize for Jim's madness and muttered "Excuse him, he's delirious" to everyone who would listen.
Bones had to slow down to get something out of his bag, and Camille quickly outpaced him and caught up to Jim, who had finally located Uhura.
His urgency now reaching its peak, Jim skidded to a halt once more behind her chair. "Uhura! Uhura!"
Uhura turned, and Camille automatically got a wave of hostility, though it wasn't necessarily directed at Jim. Whoa. She would have hated to be whoever had caused this woman's bad mood, and she wasn't too eager to be on the side of anyone that fanned the flames.
"Kirk, what are you doing here?" Uhura asked, standing. Suddenly her eyes widened.
"The transmission from the Klingon prison planet. What exactly – "
"Oh my word, what's wrong with your hands?"
"Noticed that, did you?" Camille commented drily to her right. But it wasn't just Jim's hands that were haywire anymore. No, she'd noticed his voice starting to go a little off during that last sentence. Not slurred, exactly, just… not normal. Her concern mounted.
"It's…" Jim stuttered for a few moments. Bones had finally caught up and began scanning Jim again, so unobtrusively that Jim didn't even notice. Camille might have bit back a laugh at what she knew was coming if the matter hadn't been so serious.
Finally, Jim gave up. "Look, who was responsible for the Klingon attack – "
"What?" Uhura asked, clearly two straws away from breaking.
" – and was the ship womlula?"
Aaaand there it went. Camille facepalmed, this close to done with James Tiberius Kirk and all the complications they were going through to get him onto this bloody ship.
"Was the ship what?" Uhura demanded, her face mirroring Camille's current feelings.
"W- wha – " Jim floundered around for a few moments, trying to form the words, then, if possible, growing even more panicked, he turned to Bones. "Wha's 'appenin' 'oo ma mowf?"
"You got numb tongue?" Bones asked grimly.
"Num nung?" Jim cried, clearly as exasperated as the rest of them.
"I can fix that," Bones said, bending down to his medicine bag.
"Was the ship what?" Uhura groaned, getting back to the matter at hand.
"Womlua."
"What? I…"
"Romulan!" he managed.
"Romulan?"
"Yeah."
"Yes."
"Yes?" Jim shouted. "Ye – " But whatever he'd been about to say was cut off with a cry of pain as Bones, once again, shot him up with a dose of anti-reaction. "Ah! Dammit!"
Karina glanced down at her communications screen. It showed her not only the main communications sector, but also who all had their stations up and on ready. She glanced at Uhura's. Suddenly, its comm blipped off.
Karina frowned for a moment, then felt a thrill of fear go through her. She dismissed it quickly, however. Uhura was a mature woman, an adult, and a member of a peaceful humanitarian armada, for that matter.
She wasn't going to commit a revenge murder just because she hadn't gotten the senior communications position. Right?
Yep. Camille had been right. Her life today was consisting of nothing but running. Jim, apparently fully recovered from his reaction – regardless of what Bones seemed to think – was now racing at breakneck speed toward the bridge, Bones, Camille, and Uhura close behind him.
"Jim!" Bones called.
"What's going on?" Uhura asked.
"Oh, it's a long story," Camille groaned.
"Jim come back!"
"Kirk!"
The doors to the bridge slid open and Jim bolted through. Camille threw up her hands in exasperation.
"Captain! Captain Pike, sir - "
"Jim, come back here!"
"Dammit, Jim!" Camille shouted, while Uhura behind her continued to demand an explanation.
" – we have to stop the ship."
"Kirk, how the hell did you get on board the Enterprise?" Pike demanded, rising from the captain's chair. Camille fought the urge to offer up a salute, a feeling not all could inflict upon her. Pike wasn't the only one who had risen to stare at them. Spock, in the science officer position, was on his feet, too, looking incredibly miffed. Karina was also on her feet, staring down at them, concern written all over her face. Suddenly her eyes widened.
"Jim, what's wrong with your hands?" she shrieked, and Pike turned and gave her a look that wilted her toes. She cleared her throat.
"My apologies, Captain." She then looked at Camille and gave her a look that said, What is going on – and why are his hands puffy?
Camille mouthed, "Long story," and secretly thought to herself that they had been a lot worse about two minutes ago. Sulu, too, was staring at her as though asking for an explanation, and she mouthed, "Really long story." Her eyes then landed on Chekov, who was also staring at her expectantly, and she opened her mouth as though to speak, then rolled her eyes and turned back to the conversation going on in front of her. The kid would find out soon enough.
The other three, meanwhile, turned back to Kirk, looking as though they were fairly certain he was going to explode any minute now.
"Captain, this man's under a severe reaction to a vaccine," Bones began explaining.
"Bones, please…" Jim cried, trying to make the man shut up.
"He's completely delusional, and I take full responsibility – "
"Vulcan is not experiencing a natural disaster!" Jim cut over the top of him. "It's being attacked by Romulans."
How the heck does he figure? Camille wondered. However, Karina, who knew Jim's story a bit better, gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. Chekov had said "lightning storm in space." That was… freakishly similar to the circumstances that befell the USS Kelvin, where Jim's father had met his end. Pike should realize that, too.
However, the captain was registering none of this, his infuriated visage remaining. His voice tight, he said, "Romulans? Cadet Kirk, I think you've had enough attention for one day. McCoy, take him back to medical. And Osbourne, I just received a report you never made it to your post. We'll all have words later."
"Aye, Captain," Bones said, going to haul Jim off the captain's platform, but Jim was not quite done.
"Look, sir, that same anomaly we saw today…" Jim began, stepping up until he was practically in Pike's face.
"Mr. Kirk!" Pike growled, whirling.
"Mr. Kirk is not cleared to be aboard this vessel, Captain," Spock broke in, approaching and standing on Pike's other side, staring Jim down as if hoping to be intimidating – which both Camille and Karina knew he was not accomplishing in the least. And Jim's next words all but confirmed that assumption as he and Spock spoke over each other.
"Look, I get it. You're a great arguer."
"By Regulations…"
"I'd love to do it again."
"…that makes him a stowaway. I can remove the cadet."
"Try it!" Jim finally shouted.
"Kirk…" Pike snapped.
"This cadet is trying to save the bridge."
"By recommending a full-stop midwarp during a rescue mission?" Spock asked, concern for his home planet lacing his tone with arsenic and wrecking the logical façade he put up.
Camille glanced over at Uhura, who seemed the only one beside Jim and Pike on the bridge not either irritated or thoroughly intimidated by Spock. In fact, the woman's face was downright softened from what it had been before. Camille thought of the earlier events of that day, contemplated anyone feeling such a way about Spock, and wanted to vomit.
"It's not a rescue mission. Listen to me, it's an attack," Jim said, once again addressing Pike.
"Based on what facts?" Spock snapped, full-on demolishing any attempt he'd ever made to convince the humans that he had no emotions.
Camille looked at Bones, who appeared just as lost as she was. Karina eyed Uhura, who looked back at her. A brief flicker of recognition passed across her face, but, to her relief, the concept of petty rivalries seemed to transcend this matter, and Uhura's attention went back to the exchange occurring between Jim, Pike, and Spock. Karina did likewise.
Jim glared at Spock, though he was addressing Pike. His thin, clipped voice betrayed his anger at the commander. "That same anomaly, a lightning storm in space that we saw today, also occurred on the day of my birth." Comprehension dawned on not only Bones' face, but also Camille's. Everyone else appeared just as confused as ever until Jim continued, "Before a Romulan ship attacked the USS Kelvin." He turned back to Pike. "You know that, sir. I've read your dissertation."
Pike's resolve appeared to slip, and Karina felt a surge of victory for Jim. Pike was very hard to move from a decision once his mind was made up.
Jim's face, which had bordered on respectful while facing Pike, now resumed its fiery glare when he turned back to Spock once more. "That ship, which had formidable and advanced weaponry, was never seen or heard from again."
Spock's angry expression faltered a bit, now replaced with one of foreboding fear. It was Camille's turn to feel victory for Jim. Spock was beginning to see his point.
"The Kelvin attack took place on the edge of Klingon space," Jim continued, "and at 2300 hours last night, there was an attack. Forty-seven Klingon warbirds destroyed by Romulans, sir, and it was reported that the Romulans were in one ship, one massive ship."
Though Pike was obviously being swayed toward Jim's point, he saw one flaw, one loose thread in the tapestry, and he pulled at it. "And you know of this Klingon attack how?"
Jim turned to Uhura. All eyes suddenly on her, she sighed in resignation, now understanding what this matter was about and realizing that Kirk's madness was justified. "Sir, I intercepted and translated the report myself. Kirk's report is accurate."
Pike remained stock still, attempting to process what he'd just heard. Jim turned back to him.
"We're warping into a trap, sir. The Romulans are waiting for us, I promise you that."
Karina frowned. There was still a potential… How could Jim know for sure? But granted, lightning storms didn't just happen out here in space. And she realized something – Jim Kirk may not have looked all that bright, or acted so on a regular basis. But he had an intuition. And he never got as worked up as he had just there without good reason. The Romulans were waiting to ambush them as soon as they finished warp.
Remembering her first year at the Academy, remembering Agustin, her hatred of Romulans – and Spanish men – resurfaced and she shuddered.
"The cadet's logic is sound," Spock said, jarring her from her reflections. "And Lieutenant Uhura is unmatched in xenolinguistics. We would be wise to accept her conclusion."
Karina's jaw tightened just slightly, but she held the pettiness in check. Considering that they were probably warping to their death.
Pike contemplated the matter. "Scan Vulcan space. Check for any transmissions in Romulan."
Karina moved immediately to her scanner, feeling Uhura's eyes on her, when a voice spoke up to her right. Her fellow Communications officer, a lieutenant who'd likely scored the position over Uhura based on seniority only, said, "Sir, I'm not sure I can distinguish the Romulan language from Vulcan."
We're doomed, thought Karina. Meanwhile, Camille was giving the man an incredulous look that clearly said, How did you get to be a Communications officer if you can't even speak Romulan?
Camille, obviously, was not a big fan of inefficiency. Fortunately, neither was Pike. He approached Uhura. "What about you? Do you speak Romulan, Cadet…?"
Her face appeared to fall, and Camille realized: He doesn't know who she is on sight. She was the top of her class. He should recognize her. But he doesn't. That had to sting.
"Uhura," she said, with the proper Swahili accent, of course. "All three dialects, sir."
"Uhura," Pike said, his eyes registering recognition at the name, at least. "Relieve the lieutenant."
Uhura took a deep breath. This was what she'd been waiting for, what everyone knew she rightfully deserved as top xenolinguistics cadet. "Yes, sir."
"Bartowski, hail the USS Truman," Pike commanded Karina in the meanwhile.
"All other ships are out of warp, sir, and have arrived at Vulcan," Karina said, attempting not to grit her teeth, "but we – we seem to have lost all contact…" Her voice trailed off as she realized what that likely meant. She made eye contact with Jim, then with Bones and Camille, and their grim faces confirmed that they knew the same thing she did: Every other ship sent to assist Vulcan in evacuation had been demolished. A good portion of their fellow cadets were dead.
"Sir," Uhura said, "I pick up no Romulan transmission, or transmission of any kind in the area."
"It's because they're being attacked," Jim repeated, his voice clearly belying his frustration that no one was listening to him.
Pike stood in silence for a few moments, then appeared to come to a decision and grimly resumed his seat in the captain's chair. "Shields up. Red alert."
Everyone returned to their seats. Camille looked around for any place to sit, any firm, solid foundation. For lack of a better option, she grabbed onto Bones and Jim for security. Bones looked down at her hand on his arm, looking slightly daunted by her confidence in his stability. Jim, however, was too focused on the viewer screen as the alarm blared throughout the bridge, and the entire crew braced themselves.
"Arrival at Vulcan in five seconds," Sulu announced, as the countdown blip began. The crew collectively tensed.
"Four, three, two…"
Camille eyed Spock, whose once-again emotionless face seemed to scream an unspoken arrogance as he, in turn, eyed Jim. Jim stared back, uncompromising.
Suddenly, the ship came to a halt – or at least what seemed to be a halt after the speed they'd been traveling – and a nightmare filled the viewing screen.
